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When European Central Bank president Mario Draghi announced an unlimited bond-buying program on Thursday, global markets rallied. International-fund managers reacted, however, with a resounding "eh."

The news, in short, is that the ECB is willing to buy bonds issued by euro-zone countries. This should make it easier for countries to raise money to pay their debts and keep their governments running, and generally shore up the euro. "In general, it's a good thing, but it's not a huge surprise," says Erik Weisman, who manages the
MFS Global Bond
Fund (ticker: MGBAX), which has more than 20% in euro-zone bonds. What should reassure the bond market in particular is that the ECB won't claim any senior status, putting it on par with other investors. "The bottom line is that this is a far more credible backstop than what we've seen," Weisman says.

It also makes the worst-case scenario of Spain leaving the euro-zone much less likely, says Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity's head of global macro, though any country that wants to issue debt for the ECB to buy will have to agree to certain fiscal conditions. Spain has yet to ask, and may put off doing so until it is in even more-dire straits. There's also the issue of "sterilization" -- the ECB bond purchase will be offset by sales of other assets, so there's no net difference to the balance sheet, Timmer says. The quantitative easing the U.S. Federal Reserve has done twice recently (and is likely to do a third time) is nonsterilized, which makes the balance sheet of the federal government larger. The sterilization was a nod to Germany, which opposed the bond-buying program.

All of this is keeping international stock-fund managers cautious, especially value managers, who still see too much uncertainty to warrant the recent bump in share prices. David Samra, manager of the
Artisan International Value
Fund (ARTKX), is keeping 10% of his portfolio in cash, the most allowed, in anticipation of further dips. "This news more or less avoids an emergency, and that's what the market gets worried about," he says. "But these changes are not made rapidly."

The "bottom up" approach to stock picking is especially important in this market, where good companies with solid long-term prospects are hurt by poor macroeconomic news. Fund managers are increasingly targeting European companies that are cheap because of where they're headquartered, but that derive much of their revenue from other parts of the world. "It looks like 70% of my portfolio is in Europe," says Sarah Ketterer, manager of the
Causeway International Value
Fund (CIVIX). "But those are multinational companies that derive their revenues globally." Ketterer also hedges the euro, to lock in more-favorable dollar-euro exchange rates. "We want to protect shareholders from what we think is euro weakness," she says, adding that she doesn't anticipate a collapse in the currency.

Whether or not European stocks are cheap is a matter of debate. Artisan's Samra argues that European markets are fairly valued, but Rob Taylor, director of international research for Oakmark, and co-manager of the
Oakmark International
Fund (OAKIX), thinks otherwise. The past 12 to 18 months have been fraught with fear, which has kept stock prices around the world too low, he says. "If the market in general is that cheap," he says, "we can find companies that are even cheaper."